With the 2012 edition of the TL, Acura designers have performed another rhinoplasty. The grille is smaller and more proportional now—the shiny part doesn't extend into the hood surfacing—and the front bumper clip is smaller and better detailed, with a crisp horizontal light line where once an acre of resin bulged at the corners. The headlights are narrower, as well, and the lower bumper-clip openings (for fog lights, signals and air intakes) more finely executed.

1.
Acura
TL:
A
Good
Grille
and
a
Better
Car
Behind
It
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204612504576611033555412382.html
By Dan Neil
Not since Saint Lawrence has anybody suffered over a grille like Acura. The stylistic dithering
over those few inches of molded plastic on the nose of the cars—the grille's too big, it's too
shiny, it looks too much like the buck teeth of a Pleistocene tree sloth—just never seems to
end. In 2009, the company unveiled yet another redesign of the corporate face on the entry-
luxury four-door TL sedan and, well, it was not warmly received.
I imagine the stylists at Honda/Acura studios in Southern California sauntering from those early
clinics—not wanting to be seen running—toward their easels to fix the TL's grille, which rapidly
became the car guy's Rorschach: It's a robot chastity belt, a can opener for an oil drum, Ollie in
search of his Fran.

2. With the 2012 edition of the TL, Acura designers have performed another rhinoplasty. The grille
is smaller and more proportional now—the shiny part doesn't extend into the hood surfacing—
and the front bumper clip is smaller and better detailed, with a crisp horizontal light line where
once an acre of resin bulged at the corners. The headlights are narrower, as well, and the lower
bumper-clip openings (for fog lights, signals and air
intakes) more finely executed.
The stylistic screws have been tightened at the back as
well. The holistic result is a nicely technical,
sophisticated look without the discordances of shiny
stuff that made the previous design hard to take
seriously.
As a technical aside: The TL's hood is a "trapped design,"
Dan Neil/The Wall Street Journal
meaning it is surrounded by sheet metal on all four
sides, rather than closing like a clam shell over a lip.
Achieving close and even tolerances at the hood's shut lines is hugely challenging in a high-
volume car, so well done to the kids in Maryville, Ohio, where the TL is built.
Designers, rest. Put down the hemlock and pick up the Chardonnay. Take the weekend. And
come back on Monday, because there's still the small matter of the Acura RL's grille, which
looks like it's receiving short-wave broadcasts from Moldavia.
Can we all now agree that styling was never the TL's problem in the first place?
This car is a victim of C.I., that is, "corporate image." As a brand, Acura is so lacking in emotion
it's practically Vulcan. Yes, Acura went racing in the American Le Mans Series. Yes, Acura has a
motorsports program in the World Challenge series. What's World Challenge? Exactly.
And that's why the best possible news for Acura
this year comes out of Hollywood. Acura has
bought some spectacular product placement in
next year's comic-book flick "The Avengers,"
with "Iron Man" Tony Stark ditching his Audi R8
Spyder for an Acura supercar concept. Acura also
had a big buy-in with this year's movie "Thor,"
positioning itself as the official vehicle of
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Of course it's silly. It's marketing.
Dan Neil/The Wall Street Journal
I don't want to presume too much here, but I
have a passing acquaintance with Honda/Acura's executive leadership. Acura is a relatively
small, frugal division of a very big and frugal company; for these folks to ink a mega-deal like
this signals something very big has happened behind closed doors. Good.
It all comes back to design. The TL's formerly radical styling, to say nothing of the wild ZDX
crossover-sedan design, had to walk out on the thin ice of Acura's own brand perceptions;
consumers and critics found it implausible that Acura would offer expressive, design-forward
cars, since nothing about the brand seemed cool or avant-garde. Tony Stark can fix that.
A hard go at a country road in the new TL reveals what an injustice has been done. This is a fine
piece of driving machinery. Our test car was the TL with SH-AWD ("super-handling all-wheel
drive," one of my favorite overblown Japanese brand phrases) equipped with the 3.7-liter V6
Acura

3. and new-for-2012 six-speed automatic (previously a five-speed). Taut and composed, with
nicely weighted and direct steering feel (electric power assist), the TL absolutely hustles
through the corners with very little body lean. Hit a bump midcorner and the suspension
(wishbones up front and multilink in back) dissipates it nicely, and the TL regains its cornering
posture with little oscillation.
The new automatic gearbox will also blip the throttle on downshifts (in manual mode), reducing
shift shock that can unsettle the car in hard cornering.
The signature piece in this car is the all-wheel-drive system, which can shunt most of the
engine torque to the rear wheels as necessary and will direct more torque to the outside rear
wheel in a corner to help null out understeer. Considering
2012 Acura TL With SH-AWD this is essentially a front-wheel-drive car, with most of the
weight on the front wheels, the TL has superb cornering
• Base price: $40,015 balance, particularly as you lay on more throttle.
• Price as tested: $45,790
• Powertrain: Naturally Incidentally, Acura's SH-AWD also makes the RDX the
aspirated 3.7-liter DOHC V6 best-handling compact crossover out there, at least until
with variable valve timing the Porsche Cajun is ready.
and lift; six-speed automatic
transmission with manual-
The TL's powerplant options are unchanged from 2011.
shift mode; full-time all-
The base model (front-drive only) gets a 3.5-liter V6 rated
wheel drive
at 280 horsepower and 254 pound-feet of torque; the
• Horsepower/torque: 305 hp 3.7-liter engine puts out a lusty, high-revving 305 hp at
at 6,300 rpm/273 pound-feet 6,300 rpm and 273 pound-feet at 5,000 rpm (both get
at 5,000 rpm
slightly better fuel economy for 2012). The big six sounds
• Length/weight: 194.0 great and has an ornery vitality that makes the car really
inches/3,858 pounds fun to drive.
• Wheelbase: 109.3 inches
• 0-60 mph: <6.3 seconds
In most other respects, the TL is a carry-over. The interior
• EPA fuel economy: 18/26 is nearly the same as before, with a conventional, though
mpg, city/highway nicely detailed, twin-scallop dash design meeting in a
• Cargo capacity: 12.5 cubic center stack loaded with buttons. I appreciate that Acura
feet retained the manual handbrake lever and the company's
smallish, sporty steering wheel. I also like the red Start
button and the ease of keyless-go. Additionally, Honda/Acura's Bluetooth interface—the
synching up of devices—is probably the most intuitive out there. This year there's a nice big
"Phone" button.
And, as always, Acura packages a lot of gear into its cars for the money. Our test car, with
technology package including the superb audio system, printed out at $45,790.
Can "Iron Man" save Acura? It's a crowded marketplace, and the company's messaging has a
long way to go. Still, as the TL proves, Acura is worth saving.